Clocksprings are employed in vehicles for electrically connecting steering wheel components, such as an air bag, to the circuitry of the vehicle. Conventional clocksprings include a fixed member and a rotor member with a flat cable disposed therebetween. The flat cable winds and unwinds as the steering wheel of the vehicle is turned causing strain on the cable.
Some conventional clocksprings use a separate tongue in connection with the flat cable to prevent the cable from bending or folding too far. However, these tongues increase manufacturing costs because they must be separately formed from the clockspring housing and then assembled with the housing. Due to molding limitations, forming the tongue and clockspring housing integrally has not been possible because the housing is rigid and the tongue is flexible compared to the housing.
Examples of conventional clockspring housings include U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,920 to Bannai et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,256,075 to Miyahara et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,696,523 to Schauer et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,975,063 to Ida et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,122 to Bannai, the subject matter of each of which is hereby incorporated by reference.